It appears a runoff will be required between the top-two vote-getters in a crowded field of candidates competing to fill the 45th Assembly District seat vacated when Democrat Robert Blumenfield of Woodland Hills won election to the Los Angeles City Council.

Eleven candidates competed for the Assembly seat in a district that includes parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

With all precincts reporting,the top two vote-getters were Democrat Matt Dababneh, a congressional aide from Encino and Republican Susan Shelley, an author/publisher from Woodland Hills. Democrat Jeff Ebenstein, a council deputy from Encino; and Republican Chris Kolski, a professional engineer from West Hills placed third and fourth respectively in the election night tally.

About 1,600 votes separated the second- and third-place candidate, and with potentially thousands of ballots including provisional votes, remaining to be counted, the order of the top vote-getters could change in the coming weeks.

Other Democratic candidates on the ballot included business owner Elizabeth Badger of West Hills, council policy analyst Damian Carroll of Encino, businessman/financial consultant Dennis de Young of Northridge, California government teacher Andra Hoffman of Sherman Oaks and businessman Dan McCrory of Northridge.

The ballot also included Republican accountant/political consultant Armineh Chelebian of Winnetka and neighborhood Council President Eric Lewis of Winnetka, who competed for the Assembly seat with no party preference.